Welcome to the Breault Lab

Our laboratory is focused on identifying mechanisms underlying tissue homeostasis in self-renewing tissues, such as intestine, adrenal gland, bone. Specifically, we are pursuing the hypothesis that telomerase expression is a biomarker for self-renewing progenitor/stem cells. Our efforts have led to the generation of mTert-reporter mice and the discovery of several populations of slowly-cycling tissue stem cells, including an elusive intestinal stem cell. Ongoing efforts are aimed at characterizing stem cell responses to physiological and pathological stress and age with the ultimate goal to improve therapeutic treatment options for a wide range of conditions.